Master Archaeologist

Chapter 52

Emotions belong to emotion, but business cannot be delayed.

After Chen Han thought wildly for a while, he quickly continued to devote himself to the intense excavation work.

Tomb No. M-168 newly excavated this time has so many funerary objects!
Although it is certainly incomparable with the royal tombs, compared with the ordinary Western Han tombs, it is definitely considered a "thick burial".

Chen Han and the others were in charge of cleaning the side case. It would probably take at least half a month just to clean the lacquerware on the upper layer.

The first thing to be cleaned up was one after another lacquered fungus cups and plates.

These two utensils were placed on the top shelf of the side box, and there were a lot of them, a total of 26 cups and [-] plates.

"This is probably a tool used by the owner of the tomb to entertain guests?"

Chen Han casually picked up an ear cup that had been cleaned and looked at it carefully.

Ear cups, also known as "wine glasses", are actually a kind of wine glasses.

The shape of the ear cup is oval, shallow belly, flat bottom, with half-moon ears on both sides, which is quite different from the modern cup style.

The most obvious difference is that modern cups are very deep, while ear cups are very shallow, more like a basin.

This is because in ancient times, especially from the Warring States period to the Qin and Han Dynasties, wine glasses with high feet and deep cups were called "jue".

Jue can be said to be the earliest wine vessel, but it was a kind of ritual vessel in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and it was not available to non-vassals and emperors.

Even in the Western Han Dynasty, Jue was a high-standard sacrificial vessel that could only be used by nobles of at least Liehou and above.

Ordinary people and small and medium-sized nobles can only use ear cups with shallow belly.

This is a part of etiquette in Chinese culture, and it is absolutely insurmountable.

Compared with "Jue", the ear cup is actually more convenient to use.

Along with the earcups, some paint spoons were also unearthed.

When the nobles in the Western Han Dynasty drank wine, they first let the maids use these lacquer spoons to pour fine wine into the ear cups, and then held the ear cups with both hands and drank in one gulp.

It's also very refreshing and comfortable.

Just as Chen Han was taking protective measures for these cleared earcups.

Beside him, Su Sa, who continued to extract lacquerware from the coffin, suddenly exclaimed:
"Junior Brother Chen, look!"

"These two earcups are obviously more exquisite than the others!"

Chen Han heard the sound and looked over.

Su Sa was using the buoyancy of the water and the strength of the tray to carefully lift up two stacked lacquered fungus cups.

With the movement of her lifting, two very bright and beautiful ear cups slowly emerged from the stagnant water in the coffin chamber.

"Hey, it's true!" Chen Han made two steps at the same time, and leaned forward in a blink of an eye, staring blankly at the tray in Su Sa's hand.

There is something really special about these two ear cups!

While they're basically the same shape as other earcups, they're also the same size.

But most of the other earcups are simply painted black on the outside and red on the inside.

The two earcups in Su Sa's hands are painted with some geometric patterns with red lacquer on the inside and outside of the ears and the rim.

And the inner bottom is also painted with three smart fat fish with red paint, and there is a four-leaf pattern embellishment in the middle.

In addition, the shape of the fish and the pattern of the fish scales are outlined with gold and yellow lacquer.

The entire ear cup is harmonious in color, lifelike and lifelike.

The difference from other ordinary ear cups is as obvious as the difference between a pure white porcelain and a painted porcelain.

People can't take their eyes away after seeing it.

However, when the two ear cups were taken out of the water and exposed to the air, the brightly colored paintings had begun to fade and fall off.

Fortunately, this is not a big problem. The level of lacquerware repair in China is already very high.

The problem of a little color oxidation can be easily solved by cultural relic restoration experts.

Of course, in order to prevent further shrinkage, deformation and cracking of the water-exposed lacquerware, Chen Han and Su Sa couldn't care less about continuing to appreciate it.

Lacquerware itself is actually very difficult to damage.

During the production of lacquerware, the carcass is very strong and durable after repeated painting, and it can theoretically guarantee that it will not break for tens of thousands of years.

But, it can't be too absolute.

As the saying goes, dry for a thousand years, wet for ten thousand years, and half a year for neither dry nor wet.

This refers to lacquerware.

The reason why most of the lacquer wares in Tomb M-168 are well preserved is that these lacquer wares have been soaked in water for a long time and have absorbed water.

But out of the water is different.

Differences in temperature and changes in humidity will cause these water-absorbed lacquers to begin to dehydrate and dry.

If you leave it alone, it won't take half a year, maybe it will crack and deform in a few days.

As a professional archaeologist, Chen Han will definitely not let it go.

As for how to properly preserve all kinds of unearthed objects, Chen Han has learned it clearly in school, and he has also practiced it during his university internship, so he has a lot of experience.

A large number of items needed for cultural relic protection have also been prepared at the excavation site.

In fact, the method is very simple.

Chen Han walked to the side of the tomb, took out some wet cloth and wet foam from a super-large foam box, wrapped the two special three-fish ear cups, and then put them into a cup filled with a little pure water. In the plastic bag, even if you're done.

As long as we can continue to maintain a relatively high humidity environment for these unearthed lacquerware and prevent them from drying out, they will not be damaged soon.

Of course, if the situation at the excavation site is sudden and there is no wet cloth prepared in advance, you can just find a bucket, fill it with water and then immerse the lacquerware in water, which is also a preservation method.

In the 70s and [-]s, it was done like this, and the effect was quite good.

As for the future, it is natural to send these lacquerware to the cultural relics restoration institution in Jingzhou City, and let the group of cultural relics restoration personnel who sit in the office every day carry out professional dehydration and drying treatment.

After the dehydration and drying are completed, they will proceed to the next step of restoration work.

Anyway, these things have nothing to do with Chen Han, who does field archaeological work.

The members of the archaeological team of the Academy of Social Sciences only dig, not repair!
After pasting a handwritten [Lacquer Ware-Ear Cup-No. 101] on the plastic bag, Chen Han put the pair of three-fish ear cups into a foam box without any further protection measures.

Unearthed cultural relics are a very special thing.

When they were unearthed, they were indeed very fragile and fragile, and they needed to be treated with care, and they might be wiped out if they were not careful.

But if you want to say that they are fragile, they have been buried underground for hundreds of thousands of years, and they have survived after being buried by wind, rain, water and soil!
Therefore, sometimes, the protection of cultural relics is so unpretentious, simple and rude.

There are no various high-tech equipment imagined by the outside world, and no high-end oxygen-free sterile containers are used.

You just need to create an environment for them that is similar to when they were buried in the soil.

They are already a mature relic, some things will overcome themselves~
　Of course, if the cultural relics are preserved underground in a nearly anaerobic environment, it will be troublesome when they are unearthed.

　　If it is not stored properly, it is common to oxidize instantly after exposure to oxygen.

　　
　　Afterwards, Chen Han will be involved in the restoration of cultural relics.

　　The young rookies who are just fledgling should do a good job of their own "digging" work first.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)